Study shows 83% of photographers use AI – has the technology already become an integral part of photography?

VSCO has carried out a study on AI usage in photography – and the results suggest that a large majority of photographers are using AI at some point in their workflows.

VSCO surveyed 401 photographers, both professionals and hobbyists, on how AI is perceived and applied across creative and business workflows, and found that 83% of photographers in general use the technology.

What’s more, of the professional and hobbyist respondents, 68% and 34% respectively said they use AI on at least a weekly basis. VSCO says the growth in AI adoption spans multiple genres from wedding photography to landscapes.

The survey doesn't mean that 83 percent of photographers are using generative AI – nearly half of the respondents reported using AI for repetitive, mundane tasks. Around 63 percent are using general tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Assisting with editing and culling is the most popular role for AI, followed by shot planning, business administration, and mentor-like feedback.

Honestly, I’m not surprised to see such a high percentage of photographers using AI, and I think it’s only going to grow when you consider how much time it can save you in post-production.

In fact, the study also revealed that 38% of photographers used AI more in 2025 than the year before, and 29% started using it for the first time in 2025, while just 2% of photographers have “pulled back” on AI in the past year. However, VSCO didn't specify to what extent “pulled back” meant.

Opposition to AI in photography is mainly geared toward enabling it to take the creative reins. However, it appears that most photographers use it to handle the more repetitive and less-creative aspects of the craft, as the study showed 55% of photographers use AI to assist with editing, culling, and to automate aspects of post-production.

I’d say the study highlights, at least to some extent, how photographers are increasingly accepting the benefits of AI rather than seeing it as a threat to their jobs. Respondents were also asked how they feel about AI, and 49% of professionals and 37% of hobbyists said they were curious about using it.

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Of course, there are still what I’d call severe concerns surrounding AI and its adoption within photography, with 17% of the survey respondents indicating they felt skeptical and 5% saying they felt threatened by it.

Looking ahead, I can’t see future studies contradicting this one by VSCO, especially when I think about how I use AI to streamline my own post-production workflow and the hassle it saves me.

While this study certainly doesn't represent the entire photography community, I think it further highlights the inevitability that AI will become a staple of the craft, with the extent of this depending on individual photographers.

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I'm sorry to break this to you, but your mirrorless camera probably already has AI built into it.